YouTuber Conor McGilligan has slammed Leeds United midfielder Marc Roca after he put in an abject display in the club's most recent defeat.
What's the latest on Marc Roca and Leeds?
The Whites were unable to do much to aide their fight for survival in the Premier League on the weekend as they beaten comfortably away from home.
Indeed, Javi Gracia and co travelled to the Emirates take on league leaders Arsenal and shipped four goals in a 4-1 loss. Gabriel Jesus netted a double, while Ben White and Granit Xhaka also got in on the act, making Rasmus Kristensen's consolation essentially redundant.
No doubt, it was a difficult afternoon for the entire Leeds team but they actually went toe-to-toe with the Gunners in the early stages of the game, right up until conceding a penalty for the first goal.
And while talking about this period of the match on the One Leeds Fan Channel, McGilligan lamented Roca's inability to help his team control the game with a bit more quality on the ball.
He explained (05:25): "It's Marc Roca who I thought was poor today, I think a lot of you are going to be shocked that I objectively called him out. But listen, he's up against two top operators in [Thomas] Partey and Xhaka who have been fantastic this season.
"But once again, you know, not been able to keep hold of the ball in periods of time where Arsenal aren't that great. That's always going to affect you know.”
Was Marc Roca poor against Arsenal?
When writing the player ratings for LeedsLive, journalist Beren Cross wasn't quite as harsh on Roca, giving him a six out of ten and writing: "Not a bad afternoon for the Spaniard to say he was under the cosh for a lot of the afternoon. Carried the ball well and got Leeds out of some tight scrapes."
Perhaps this is why McGilligan suggests fans will be "shocked" by his criticism of the Spaniard. However, when looking at the stats on SofaScore, you can see that Roca was pretty loose with the ball.
Indeed, he gave it away 13 times – the second worst rate amongst the outfield players for Leeds – and he also had a pass rate of just 79 per cent when Xhaka and Partey were up at (94% and 96%), while completing zero out of five attempted crosses.
All in all, it's easy to see why the midfielder who earns £50k-p/w left a lot to be desired on the day.
